Take the Family to London – Wots on in 2009

If your taking the family to London in the UK this year you might be interested to see what major events, attractions that the kids might enjoy while visiting.

What’s New and Happening In London In 2009

Anniversaries

500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne

Historic Royal Palaces will mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne in 2009 with permanent representations and temporary exhibitions at two of the palaces most associated with the mighty monarch – Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London. There will also be events at the British Library and other venues across London.

200th anniversary of Charles Darwin

Darwin200 is a national programme of events celebrating Charles Darwin’s scientific ideas and their impact around his 200th birthday on 12 February 2009. The Natural History Museum’s Darwin exhibition runs from 14 November 2008 until 19 April 2009.

250th anniversary of Kew Gardens

Visitors to the gardens in the anniversary year will experience a range of botanical wonders including a Tropical Extravaganza featuring orchids, bromeliads and insectivorous plants. UK native flowers will be celebrated with a display of UK orchids and wildflowers and the famous spring celebration will feature a spectacular crocus carpet.

100th anniversary of Selfridges

In March 2009, this famous department store will celebrate 100 years in business. The celebrations will include a retrospective look at the iconic Selfridges brand.

International Year of Astronomy 2009

The vision of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 is to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the universe through the day and night time sky. To celebrate, the Royal Observatory, Greenwich is putting on a year-long programme of events, exhibitions, conferences and digital learning opportunities.

Attractions

British Music Experience

The British Music Experience is a permanent interactive exhibition dedicated to the history of popular music in Britain. Opening on 9 March 2009 at The O2, the central theme reflects popular music generated in the UK over the past 60 years. It will also acknowledge international artists who have influenced or been influenced by the British music scene.

Tropical Extravaganza at Kew Gardens

Brighten the cold, dark days of February by visiting Kew Gardens’ Tropical Extravaganza (7 February – 8 March 2009), a hot-weather oasis of vibrant orchids and dramatic jungle plants. Tropical Extravaganza is the first festival in a year of events celebrating Kew’s 250th anniversary and its pivotal role as a world leader in plant diversity and conservation.

Theatre and Performance Galleries at the V&A

The Theatre and Performance Galleries, opening 18 March 2009, will provide a new home for the Victoria and Albert Museum’s extensive collections, which range across all performance types, from opera, ballet and drama to puppetry, circus, rock and pop. Around 300 objects will be on display, including set models, sketches, costumes, stage props, original posters and playbills and footage of performances.

Major expansion of Whitechapel Gallery

The Whitechapel’s ambitious £13 million development project is due for completion in April 2009. The project has transformed the former library building next to the gallery, increasing gallery space by 78%. The expanded Whitechapel Gallery provides one of the most exciting new cultural buildings in Europe, and there is an impressive exhibition programme planned for 2009.

Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries at the V&A

The Gilbert Collection’s superb collection of gold, silver, micromosaics and gold boxes, given to the nation by the late Sir Arthur Gilbert in 1996, will move from its old home in Somerset House to the Victoria and Albert Museum. The new galleries will open on 30 June 2009.

Wimbledon Centre Court Experience

Visitors will soon be just a few steps away from all the action on Centre Court with the Centre Court Experience extension to the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. Opening in August 2009, this new addition includes the Centre Court Eye, a viewing platform in the corner of Centre Court, giving visitors a panoramic view of the playing surface and the stadium itself as well as interactive spaces interpreting the story of Centre Court.

Darwin Centre

The Natural History Museum’s new Darwin Centre opens in September 2009. This £78 million landmark building is the most significant development at the museum since it moved to South Kensington in 1881. The architectural highlight is a 65 metre long, eight storey high cocoon – the largest sprayed concrete, curved structure in Europe.

Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the V&A

Ten new galleries, occupying an entire wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum, will tell the story of European art and design between 300AD and 1600AD. The new galleries are the V&A’s largest project since the opening of the British Galleries in 2001. More than 1800 objects will be on display. The Medieval and Renaissance Galleries open on 14 November 2009.

Hotels

Bloomsbury Street

In the heart of London’s creative quarter, a £25 million transformation is taking place. Just 50 metres from the steps of the British Museum and a short stroll to Covent Garden and Oxford Street, the Radisson Edwardian Marlborough hotel will re-launch in January 2009 as the sleek new four-star deluxe Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street.

Boundary

Boundary, a new project in Shoreditch, East London, will open in January 2009. Located in a converted Victorian warehouse, Boundary will offer three restaurants and bars, 17 guest bedrooms, a bakery and food store. Boundary is a joint venture between Terence and Vicki Conran in partnership with Peter Prescott. The design has been led by Terence Conran together with Conran & Partners, Terence’s architecture and interior design practice.

The Savoy

The iconic London hotel shut down in December 2007 to undergo a £100 million renovation. Set to re-open in May 2009, the hotel will revive its role as a London landmark and continue its legacy of luxurious accommodation and sumptuous dining. Two classic restaurants are also set to re-open: The Savoy Grill serving modern European food and the more informal Banquette.

Apex London Wall

Apex London Wall is a conversion of a former office block in Copthall Avenue, in the heart of the City. Due for completion in summer 2009, the four-star hotel will provide 89 bedrooms and restaurant facilities.

Berners Hotel

The five-star Berners Hotel closed its doors in January 2006 to embark on an ambitious refurbishment programme and is due to re-open in 2009. Famous for its richly decorated ceilings in the entrance hall and restaurant from the 1830s, the hotel’s refurbishment promises to enhance the well-known features and preserve its unique appearance for future generations to admire.

Exhibitions and Events

Altermodern: Tate Triennial 2009

Tate Britain, 3 February to 26 April 2009
Nicolas Bourriaud, the founding director of contemporary art gallery Palais de Tokyo in Paris, has been invited to curate the fourth Tate Triennial at Tate Britain. Bourriaud is proposing the new term ‘Altermodern’ to describe how artists are currently responding to the globalised context in which we live. The exhibition will explore how increased communication, travel and migration have all contributed to a greater exchange of cultures in the 21st century.

Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism

Tate Modern, 12 February to 17 May 2009
Rodchenko and Popova: Defining Constructivism will explore the work of Aleksandr Rodchenko and Liubov Popova from 1917, the year of the October Revolution, to 1929. Arguably two of the Russian avant-garde’s most influential and important artists, they were integral to the stylistic and theoretical underpinning of Russian Constructivism rejecting the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’ in favour of art as a practice directed towards social objectives.

Van Dyck and Britain

Tate Britain, 18 February to 17 May 2009
Van Dyck and Britain will present a comprehensive view of Anthony van Dyck’s work in early 17th century Britain, and will reveal his singular impact on British art and cultural life from the reign of Charles I onwards. The visually sumptuous exhibition will bring together some of the finest and most magnificent paintings that van Dyck produced during his years in Britain.

Shah ‘Abbas and the Remaking of Iran

British Museum, 19 February to 14 June 2009
The exhibition will explore the reign and legacy of the Iranian king Shah ‘Abbas (r 1587–1629 AD). Shah ‘Abbas was a stabilising force in Iran following a period of civil war and foreign invasion. He strengthened the economy by establishing powerful links in the global trade between Asia and Europe and revitalised Shi`a Islam, the state religion established in 1501, which is still practised today. The exhibition will include exquisite Qur’ans, mosque lamps, paintings, carpets, calligraphy, porcelain and silks.

Simply Madonna

Old Truman Brewery, 21 February to 22 March 2009
An exhibition of the world’s largest private collection of Madonna’s film and stage costumes, from the iconic pink Material Girl dress to the wedding gown from Evita. The show will tell the story of Madonna’s 25-year career, unearthing a treasure trove of over 300 personal items brought together for the first time.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones

V&A Museum, 24 February to 10 May 2009
Stephen Jones, one of the UK’s most influential hat designers, will present an ‘anthology of hats’ drawn from the V&A and other international collections. More than 300 hats will be on display, from an Egyptian Anubis mask dated 600BC to a 1950s Dior couture hat.

Picasso: Challenging The Past

National Gallery, 25 February to 7 June 2009
Featuring approximately 60 major works by Picasso, this exhibition will explore the many ways in which the greatest painter of the 20th century sought to challenge the Old Masters. The exhibition will focus on enduring themes Picasso confronted throughout his career, with sections dedicated to the self portrait, the Spanish tradition of the male portrait, the female nude, the still life, the seated female figure, and the artist’s later ‘variations’ on great works of the past such as Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’Herbe.

Roni Horn A.K.A Roni Horn

Tate Modern, 25 February to 25 May 2009
This exhibition will be the most significant overview of American artist Roni Horn’s work to date and will reveal the full range of her practice. Born in 1955, Horn is one of the most important artists of her generation, renowned in particular for her explorations of identity and the variety of media used in her work.

Gerhard Richter Portraits

National Portrait Gallery, 26 February to 31 May 2009
Gerhard Richter is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading contemporary artists, a complex figure known both for his figurative paintings based on photographs as well as for abstract paintings. This groundbreaking exhibition is the first to examine Richter’s portraits in detail. Covering the period from the 1960s to the present, it includes important early black and white paintings made from magazine photographs, portraits based on private snapshots, and a new portrait never previously exhibited.

Constable Portraits: The Painter and His Circle

National Portrait Gallery, 5 March to 14 June 2009
This exhibition is the first comprehensive and scholarly assessment of John Constable’s portraiture. As with Jane Austen’s novels, Constable’s portraits provide a window into Regency society. This exhibition provides an opportunity to explore the portraits in depth and to show their power and honesty.

Baroque 1620-1800: Style in the Age of Magnificence

V&A Museum, 4 April to 19 July 2009
This exhibition will reflect the magnificence and splendour of Baroque, one of the most opulent styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. More than 200 objects will be on display, including architecture, furniture, silver, ceramics, painting, sculpture and textiles.

Henry VIII: Heads and Hearts

Historic Royal Palaces
22 April 2009 marks the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne. Historic Royal Palaces will be dedicating the whole year to marking the lasting legacy of the mighty monarch with permanent representations, temporary exhibitions and thought-provoking debate. Highlights include Henry’s Garden, Henry’s Women and Henry’s Wedding at Hampton Court Palace and Henry’s Style at the Tower of London.

Henry VIII: Man and Monarch

British Library, 22 April to 6 September 2009
Historian and broadcaster David Starkey will guest-curate this exhibition at the British Library. Henry VIII: Man and Monarch will examine the extraordinary transformations that took place in Henry’s reign, featuring books, pictures, tapestry, armour, plate, jewellery and sculpture.

Only in London

Design Museum, 15 May to 13 September 2009
London is a city full of creative talent and this exhibition covers all areas of design including graphics, furniture, product design, architecture and fashion. Only in London will approach a number of well-known designers to look at aspects of London they think are really special and make them better, whether it’s an alternative to the red bus or a new design for Trafalgar Square.

Clothes Show Live

ExCeL London, 29-31 May 2009
Clothes Show Live will return to London in 2009. The show aims to attract 45,000 visitors. Exhibitors will range from the high street to designer, vintage and boutique brands.

Turner and the Masters

Tate Britain, 23 September 2009 to January 2010
Turner and the Masters will exhibit Turner’s greatest paintings alongside works by the old masters and contemporaries that he hoped to imitate or rival. Featuring around 100 works, the exhibition will include paintings by Claude, Canaletto, Ruisdael, Van de Velde, Poussin, Rubens, Rembrandt, Constable, Bonington and many others known by Turner at first hand.

Moctezuma

British Museum, 24 September 2009 – 24 January 2010
This is the fourth exhibition in the Museum’s series celebrating great rulers and will explore the divine military and political rise of the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (r. AD 1502 – 1521).

Sold Out

Tate Modern, 1 October 2009 to 17 January 2010
Sold Out will propose a radical re-reading of Pop Art and its legacy. Going beyond ‘Pop’ as a style, the exhibition will explore the ways in which certain key artists, since the 1980s, have created their own ‘brands’, engaged in self-promotion and co-opted marketing strategies. Among the artists represented will be Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, David Hammons, Martin Kippenberger and Damien Hirst.

Theatre and Performance

Quidam – Cirque du Soleil
Royal Albert Hall, from 4 January
This dazzling show contains all the elements Cirque du Soleil is famous for: Astonishing acrobatics, awe-inspiring aerial acts, unique lighting and an elaborate set design. Quidam (pronounced key-dam) celebrates the nameless passerby, the person lost amidst the crowd in an all too anonymous society.

A View from the Bridge
Duke of Yorks, from 4 January
Ken Stott will take the lead role of Eddie Carbone in this new production of Arthur Miller’s classic. A headstrong longshoreman raising his wife’s orphaned niece Catherine, Eddie’s life starts to fall apart when his feelings for Catherine develop from paternal protectiveness to sexual desire. As he struggles to control his emotions he spirals into self-destruction.

Complicit
Old Vic, 7 January to 21 February
Richard Dreyfuss stars in Joe Sutton’s new play. Complicit explores the current American political climate through the eyes of Ben Kritzer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who finds himself hauled in front of a Supreme Court Special Prosecutor.

RSC’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Novello Theatre, 15 January to 7 February 2009
Gregory Doran reprises his acclaimed 2005 RST production of Shakespeare’s best loved comedy with a re-worked and re-cast version.

Carmina Burana
The O2, 17 January 2009
This is the first in The O2’s new classical series, Monumental Classics. Never seen before in the UK but enjoyed by over a million people across the rest of the world, Monumental Classics aims to take the classical music experience to a new level. The production features 250 performers plus sensational light projections and fireworks.

Spring Awakening
Lyric Hammersmith, 23 January to 28 February 2009
The European premiere of Spring Awakening, based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial play. In a world where grown-ups hold all the cards, three school friends experience the exhilarating, turbulent journey into adulthood. Spring Awakening is a vibrant and poignant story about a brilliant young student Melchior, his troubled friend Moritz, and Wendla, a beautiful teenage girl – all on a voyage of personal discovery and sexual awakening.

The Pitmen Painters
National Theatre, from 27 January
In 1934, a group of Ashington miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class. Rapidly abandoning theory in favour of practice, the pitmen began to paint. Within a few years the most avant-garde artists became their friends and their work was acquired by prestigious collections. But every day they worked, as before, down the mine. Lee Hall’s new play is a humorous, deeply moving look at art, class and politics.

Only When I Laugh
Greenwich Theatre, 27 to 31 January 2009
1950s Theatre Manager Stanley (Jack Shepherd, Wycliffe) is not having a good day. His band is stuck in traffic, his number two comic is cavorting with one of his tap-dancing twins and a top-billing singer is on her way from London. But the top of the bill belongs to Reg, number one comic and hero of the working classes…

Duet for One
The Almeida, 22 January to 14 March 2009
Juliet Stevenson and Henry Goodman star as Stephanie Abrahams and Dr Feldmann in Tom Kempinski’s two-hander Duet for One. Celebrated concert violinist Stephanie is forced to re-think her career and her life after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. On the advice of her husband, a successful composer, she consults psychiatrist Dr Feldmann, whose probing questions delve deep into her complex personality. For the first time, Stephanie is forced to consider a future without music.

Enjoy
Gielgud Theatre, from 27 January 2009
Enjoy is a rarely-performed gem by Alan Bennett, one of the greatest observers of the English way of life. He set this brilliant comedy in his home town of Leeds. With the demolition of their area in progress, Wilf and Connie are soon to be re-housed in a brand new maisonette. But when a sociologist comes to observe them in their daily life, normality takes a decidedly surreal turn. A dream cast includes Alison Steadman, star of Gavin and Stacey and Abigail’s Party.

King Lear
Young Vic, 29 January to 28 March 2009
Rupert Goold’s bold new production of King Lear comes to the Young Vic. Pete Postlethwaite, loved for his work on stage and screen, will play the King in this intimate and provocative staging of Shakespeare’s most elemental tragedy. Giles Cadle’s staging evokes the dramatic scenery of the Northern landscape in the late 1970s on the eve of Thatcher’s premiership.

RSC’s The Taming of the Shrew
Novello Theatre, 12 February to 7 March 2009
Conall Morrison’s iconoclastic take on one of Shakespeare’s most problematic comedies sees Stephen Boxer (Doctors) and Michelle Gomez (Green Wing) head the cast as the warring Petruchio and the ‘Shrew’ Kate.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical
Palace Theatre, from 10 March
Based on the Oscar award-winning film, Priscilla tells the story of Tick (Jason Donovan), Bernadette (Tony Sheldon) and Adam (Oliver Thornton), a glamorous Sydney-based performing trio who agree to take their show to the middle of the Australian outback.

Calendar Girls
Noel Coward Theatre, 4 April to 19 September 2009
Tim Firth’s stage adaptation of the hit film Calendar Girls finds a new home at London’s Noël Coward Theatre.

Waiting for Godot
Theatre Royal Haymarket, from 30 April
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart star in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The play follows two consecutive days in the lives of tramps, Vladimir (Patrick Stewart) and Estragon (Ian McKellen), who divert themselves by clowning around, joking and arguing, while waiting expectantly and unsuccessfully for the mysterious Godot.

A Doll’s House
Donmar Warehouse, 14 May to 18 July 2009
Gillian Anderson (The X Files, Bleak House) returns to the London stage to play Nora in Ibsen’s controversial play. Nora loves her husband above all else. But when she risks her reputation in order to save his, she begins to question her devotion and finds herself fighting for her own life. Zinnie Harris’ new version is set against the backdrop of British politics at the turn of the last century, in a world where duty, power and hypocrisy rule.

Peter Pan
Kensington Gardens, 26 May to 30 August 2009
A new production of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan will be performed in a specially commissioned Neverland Pavilion in London’s historic Kensington Gardens. Packed with surprises including breathtaking 360 degree projected scenic design, this major production is conceived and staged by an award-winning creative team. Picnic in the Neverland Pavilion garden; take a Royal Parks’ Peter Pan tour; or just make your way through Kensington Gardens to Neverland. For the first time in 100 years, Peter Pan is coming home…

Sister Act
London Palladium, from 2 June 2009 (previews from 7 May)
Whoopi Goldberg produces a divine new musical comedy based on the international hit movie. When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won’t be found – a convent! Disguised as a nun she quickly finds fans amongst her fellow ‘sisters’ but makes the wrong impression on the convent’s strict Mother Superior. When she turns her attention to the convent’s off-key choir, helping the nuns to find their true voices and breathing new life into the rundown neighbourhood, her cover could be blown for good. With the gang giving chase, is time running out for Deloris? Or have they underestimated the power of her new found Sisterhood?

Ben Hur Live
The O2, 15, 18 and 19 September 2009
This world premier of the epic tale of Ben Hur coincides with the 50 year anniversary of the film. The show, performed in the round, will dazzle its audience with a breathtaking combination of light, sound, water, wind and pyrotechnic effects. Huge projections on a water wall will create a unique experience that appeals to all the senses.

Sporting Events

ATP World Tour Finals (Tennis)
After 62 tournaments and four grueling Grand Slams, only the eight top ranked players and doubles teams qualify to compete in the season finale. Shanghai will host its fourth consecutive Tennis Masters Cup in November 2008 before the event is reborn in 2009 as the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to be held in the heart of London at the O2 Arena from 2009 to 2012.

ICC World Twenty20 (Cricket)
The ICC World Twenty20 England 2009 will be held in June 2009 and provide an opportunity to see the very best players in the world, representing their countries and showcasing Twenty20 cricket on a global stage. The 2009 event sees both the men’s and women’s tournament integrated for the first time. The men’s tournament format consists of 12 teams, played across three venues – Lord’s, Trent Bridge and The Oval.

World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
From 13 to 18 October 2009 the World Gymnastic Championships will be held in London for the first time, at The O2. The championships will give a strong indication of which world-class gymnasts will be defending their positions at the 2012 Games, and which rising stars will challenge them.